A Hartford man was killed early Thursday when the car he was driving slammed into a steel pole with such force, it split into two pieces.

The crash happened between 12:30 and 1 a.m. in front of Shepherd Park apartments, 170 Sisson Ave. The car, which police say was a Mercury Sable wagon, was mangled by the pole and unrecognizable.

Police identified the driver as 27-year-old Ernesto Santana. About two dozen people who said they were his family and friends gathered at the crash site Thursday afternoon, some holding memorial candles.

One person was killed in an overnight crash on Sisson Avenue in Hartford.

No one else was in the car, police said, and there were no other injuries.

The crushed car had been towed away by 6 a.m., but shattered glass and other debris still littered the scene. A police car sat at the site, which still had caution tape around it to keep pedestrians out. The road had been reopened to traffic.

A worker in a hazardous materials suit and mask arrived about 6:30 a.m. to finish cleaning the street and sidewalk.

Miguel Caicedo of nearby Fales Street said he heard the car's tires screeching sometime before 1 a.m. Then he heard "the big hit."

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